The Brett Favre Anti-Appreciation Society Wins The Weekend

In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like all the Brett Favre haters who got exactly what they wanted at precisely the time they needed. You have two more wishes.

No matter what you think of him the story of this entire season was Brett Favre. He drove everyone crazy with his will he/won't he move to Minnesota, his "schism," his torturing of Packer fans, Peter King, those damn jeans commercials. He annoyed the crap out of everyone for six solid months, even the folks who were rooting for him. But he kept playing better, the Vikings kept winning and the guy never went away. Man, that pissed people off. (And it's already started again.)

Then it happened. In the most crucial moment of the Vikings' season, with a path to victory laid out before him, Favre had one more chance to be the hero ... and threw it away. When running for five yards might have given his team a chance at victory, he decided to throw for ten and denied them even the opportunity. As we'd seen him do before, he tried to do a little too much, take the big risk, make the dangerous throw. All the qualities that the blowhards of the world praise him for, turned out to be his downfall. Again.

It's not often that someone gets to see their nemesis fail in exactly the manner they long dreamed of. The fact that he got the Vikings as far as he did only makes the sadistic glee even sweeter. For those who were desperate to see Favre screw everything up, his season could not have had a more perfect ending—unless the interception had been returned for a touchdown to avoid that awkward and unsettling overtime. Following four incredible quarters with replay reviews, questionable penalties, and an anti-climactic field goal made that particular ending oddly unsatisfying.

Except for the part where Brett Favre lost.

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Here are some other winners who did not win quite as big:

Garrett Hartley: Basically, the last kicker left standing in the playoffs ... and he didn't screw it up! Somewhere Morten Andersen approves. (Or weeps.) [Star-Telegram]

Tracy Porter's barber: Playing Pac-Man six hours a day for 25 years finally pays off. [Bit Mob]

Reggie Bush?: Forty-one total yards and a nearly catastrophic fumble and somehow he's still the hero. He can't be that charming. [AP]

Indianapolis Colts: Oh, yeah, they won too. Take the over. [Chicago Tribune]

Believe it or not, I really have nothing against the Weekend Loser. How can you not feel for Vikings fans like Emmett Pearson, a farmer from Welch, Minnesota, who vowed to not shave his beard until the Vikings won the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, he made that vow 36 years ago. It's going to be a long offseason. [Rochester Post-Bulletin]